But when one of your starters is Joshua Smith, a 6-foot-10, 305-pound wide body, you tend not to be soft. Smith, who scored 14 points in Thursday’s Southeast Region win over Michigan State, was a presence inside, banging with everyone.

Smith figures to be a key to today’s 2:45 p.m. game between seventh-seeded UCLA and second-seeded Florida for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.

“I think the one thing is just how big he is and the way he moves,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said yesterday. “He’s a real, real deceptive mover. You see him on the floor and you would not expect a guy to move the way he moves. I mean, it’s really impressive.

“I think when you see somebody that big physically and that strong, the feeling is maybe they don’t move quite as well or they can’t jump as well, but he really does a terrific job moving his feet for a guy that size. The other thing that makes him a special player is he’s got great hands.”

UCLA teammate Lazeric Jones called Jones “real dominant,” adding, “I mean, there’s really not too much you can do when he’s got his mind set that he wants to score or wants to go get a rebound. We go through every day in practice, so I feel pretty bad for our opposing team.”

Asked if the players have a nickname for Smith, Tyler Honeycutt said, “Just ‘Big Josh.’ ”

Honeycutt loved to hear the praise Izzo gave UCLA.

“I think the West Coast still doesn’t get as much credit as the East Coast especially because there’s more ranked teams on the East Coast,” Honeycutt said. “The PAC-10 gets a little downplayed, but it’s good that we’ve got four teams into the tournament.”

Asked if Florida can stay with UCLA physically, Donovan said, “We’re going to find that out. That’s certainly a huge strength of their team. Not only are they tough kids but they have great bodies, great size, and certainly there’s a tremendous presence around the basket with those guys. So that’s certainly a big challenge for our team.”